


First Contact

by Beryll (Rynthjan)



Series: Sir Yaden [21]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Psychics, alien - Freeform, phoenix empire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-26
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-04-28 06:33:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5081338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rynthjan/pseuds/Beryll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The crash of an small space ship of alien build on Coshima sends Sir Yaden and his team hunting for the pilot in an effort to make humanity's first contact with the new alien species as peaceful as possible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Teagan winced when tiny, very sharp teeth bit into his tail with all the fierceness one would hope for in a young hunter. Not that Teagan had anything to compare this particular, three year old wildling to.

The fact that mortals were born young and then grew up, gaining skills and strength simply by living had been purely academic to him in his existence as a demon. A demon gained power by buying it with souls. That mortals gained power practically for free had seemed vastly unfair - until it happened to him. Now he thought it was the most awesome thing since fried chicken.

More importantly, he was watching little Vian gain prowess, agility and speed every day by allowing him to hunt Teagan's gently flicking tail. At first, it had been a matter of helping Yaden's young gain strength. After all, making Yaden happy and strong made Teagan happy and strong. But that had shifted gradually, first into enjoying the bursts of happiness Vian radiated so very loudly when he succeed, then into mellow enjoyment of having the tiny bundle of fur sleep on top of him when it was exhausted, and finally into a deep, fierce protectiveness.

Teagan prided himself on never lying to himself, so he had freely admitted that he loved Vian. He couldn't even say that he loved the tiny predator less than he loved Yaden. It was a different kind of love, but no less valid or consuming. It made his heart glow.

It had also made him wonder whether he would get another soul of his own for loving another mortal so unconditionally, but the priest he had asked about that had been quite miffed and in no uncertain terms informed him that the 'one soul per mortal' rule applied to Teagan just as to anyone else. It was a little disappointing, but fair enough.

With a quick yank he pulled his tail free of Vian and swished it out of reach. He was rewarded with an angry growl and then Vian pounced once more, only this time Teagan kept his tail moving, providing a harder target. It took Vian two more tries until he once more landed on top of Teagan's tail and bit into it with gusto.

It hurt. Not terribly much, but physical pain was one of the fascinating aspects of living in the mortal world with a real physical body that managed to surprise Teagan again and again.

As a demon living outside of the mortal universe, pain had been an abstract idea. A vague sensation associated with losing a battle, it had been an annoyance - not a sharp, physical reaction that loudly clamoured for his full attention. The first time he had stubbed his toe on a sharp rock in his human form had been quite horrifying. But he had quickly learned to appreciate how his new body was so much more alert to damage inflicted on it. It was almost like an additional sense had been added to his repertoire.

Though it wasn't quite as enjoyable as hunger. Of all the amazing new sensations and feeling love was of course his favourite, but it was immediately followed by hunger.

Before, hunger had been a greed to own more souls. Now, the empty feeling in his belly that was often accompanied by a deep, resonating growl which told the whole world that he was going to feed - that was simply awesome. It meant that his body was ready to eat. And eating currently was his favourite thing to do.

There was an endless amount of things to try, each tasting different, each producing different sensations in his mouth, his throat and his belly. No soul could compete with the divine taste of freshly fried chicken with a generous seasoning of pepper, garlic and olive oil. The mere thought made Teagan's mouth water and a deep, rumbling purr vibrated in his belly.

The lack of tail waving, combined with that purr caught Vian's attention and Teagan grinned toothily as he felt his little darling's tiny claws as Vian climbed onto his back and then up to his head so he could look down at Teagan's huge, feline face upside down. Teagan playfully swatted at Vian, who ducked low between Teagan's ears and dug his claws into Teagan's thick fur.

At first, Teagan had been terrified of hurting such a tiny, fragile creature. But Vian had turned out to be surprisingly sturdy and he didn't mind at all if he was occasionally thrown a short distance. Then again, maybe that wasn't so surprising after all. Vian was Yaden's son and Yaden sure was one resilient bastard.

On the other hand, Vian was the only one of Yaden's brood who showed any interest in becoming a great hunter and warrior. His twin sister Siva was a little spooky with her big eyes that seemed to see everything, including looking right through all of Teagan's bravado and seeing how he melted inside when she smiled at him. Just like Vian, she occasionally slept curled up in his fur and Teagan would rather let the world crash and burn than wake her when she did.

Little Kaylee was kind of useless. She just lay in her basket and slept or ate most of the time. She sure was one happy baby, Teagan had to give her that. Her grin was infectious enough. But she just didn't do anything and that was really weird. Jenny assured him that it was normal for human children, but Teagan had caught even Colin looking a little worried at the kid's lack of action.

Baby Roja really was just a tiny little flesh worm in Teagan's eyes. That humans where that small and ugly to begin with was plain creepy and while he occasionally glanced into her crib to make sure she was alright, he kept his interactions to a minimum. Of course there were plenty of other capable guardians for the younglings, so he could fully concentrate on his favourite one.

His paw finally caught Vian. He plucked the little hunter from his head, rolled over onto his back and cuddled him close against his broad chest. Vian giggled happily and snuggled into his long mane.

That mane had been made of sharp, poisonous quills instead of soft fur for as long as Teagan could think back. It was one of the many things he had adjusted in his feline form to better suit being a guardian and protector instead of a murderous warlord. Obviously his other, deadly form was only a swift shift away.

The gentle crunch of naked feet on the gravel path leading up to the cottages where Teagan and Vian were playing in the shade told him that Yaden was back already from his trip to the Phoenix Knight Tower to receive orders for a new mission.

Since his and Colin’s return from Far'Gesh a few weeks ago for Colin's gathering of priests, he had been home with nothing to do but train and spend quality time with his family. For once, the Empire was rather calm and peaceful.

Teagan had thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to train with Yaden, Ivan and Myriam. So far, their team had definitely lacked a solid front-line. Ivan had done a great job at trying to protect Yaden, but he really was rather fragile and much better suited to dealing massive amounts of damage than taking it. Fighting in a team had never been something Teagan had spent much time with. He had been a stellar solitary hunter and warrior and he had never had reason to spend souls on broadening his talents.

Now that he didn't need to spend souls anymore to learn something new, he enjoyed training all fields of combat that he could possibly get his paws on. Fighting together with Yaden was almost as good as sex with him anyway.

The only exciting event in this down time had been when Myriam had been officially sworn in as Yaden's squire the previous week. With her annum nobilis completed and all her tests passed, she had at long last earned her place at her father's side. Or so she phrased it. Teagan thought it was quite amazing that one so young in years was already so skilled and learned. But then everything about Yaden's family was amazing and that was as it should be. After all Teagan really didn't deserve any less.

Since the ceremony, Myriam had been biting her nails, eagerly waiting for her first official mission, as if it was her first mission at all. That was an excitement Teagan didn't quite get. She had accompanied Yaden on missions before and already proven her worth. Why officially being his squire made such a big difference to her was a mystery to Teagan. One of the many mysteries in mortal culture he didn't quite get yet, but was determined to unravel soon.

Vian had heard his father's step as well and just like Teagan, he was able to discern who was approaching by the sound of the steps alone. He quickly wriggled out of Teagan's grip and dashed down the path. Moments later, Teagan heard Yaden laugh.

"Hey, my little rascal!" he exclaimed and Teagan imagined his husband picking up the kid and throwing him into the air to catch him again, like he always did.

Vian's happy squeal told him that it was exactly what was happening.

With a little grunt, Teagan heaved himself up from the comfortable nest of trampled grass he and Vian had occupied. Then he padded down the path at a much more sedate pace than his little darling. Yaden was standing on the path, rubbing noses with Vian and Teagan once more marvelled at the fact that so much life and brilliant energy could be contained in such a plain mortal shell.

He closed the distance between them and gently rubbed against Yaden's hip. He really was such a tiny human.

"Hello to you, too, dear husband," Yaden greeted him and ran his fingers through Teagan's mane, finding just the right spot below his ear to scratch.

"How was your meeting?" Teagan asked. He was only mildly curious about Yaden's missions all over the Empire. So far, none of them had included a sufficient level of probable bloodshed or danger to warrant his involvement.

"Interesting, actually," Yaden replied, "I know how important your sunbaths are to you, but if you can make some time in your busy schedule, you may be able to really help with this one."

Teagan snorted. As if Yaden needed to even ask. Of course he would lend any aid he could as soon as he was actually needed.

"Ivan should be up any moment from the beach. I threw a stone at him," Yaden explained with obvious amusement at his primitive means of communication with his friend.

Together they walked up the rest of the path to the central yard between the cottages. Myriam was seated at the huge table under the olive tree, surrounded by books and notes, furiously scribbling on her notepad. She had been there when Teagan had got up from breakfast and now it was past noon. How she could concentrate on boring texts for such an extended amount of time without a single break for a nap or snack was beyond Teagan. He himself had had two naps and three snacks since.

Myriam looked up when Yaden appeared, with hope shining in her eyes.

Yaden chuckled. "Yes, we have a mission. You can stop fretting."

She tried valiantly to pout at his mocking, but instead ended up grinning like an idiot. She really was just as adorable as Yaden's other kids, Teagan thought. He walked over to her, settled next to her chair and let his huge head drop onto the seat of the chair next to hers with an exaggerated huff. Just like he had planned, she automatically started scratching between his ears. Easily manipulated in the most charming way.

Yaden disappeared into the kitchen, where Colin was busy marinating the huge fish Teagan had caught on this night's hunting expedition. The fact that there was gorgeous food swimming around the island which even put up a fight occasionally still amazed him. He had learned to tell fish, birds and mammals apart, but the sub species were hard to tell. It was one more study project for him. One that he put lots of effort in, though, since the end game was to be able to only hunt the most delicious prey.

The first time he had brought his haul back to Colin he had been politely thanked, but Colin had exuded an air of quiet disapproval so Teagan had badgered him about it and learned that turning dead fish into awesome food got progressively harder the more said fish was mauled. So now Teagan tried to bring them back as whole as possible. Which was an exciting challenge when one was having a battle to the death with some sort of toothy deep sea predator.

He listened how Yaden talked to Colin, kissed him and then came back with an arm full of snacks and without Vian.

By then Ivan came up from behind the cottages with a frown and weighing a fist sized rock in his hand. "Someone threw this at me," he said with a reproachful look towards Yaden. "I would throw it back, but I don't think the perpetrator will have the good grace to let it hit him."

Yaden snorted. "Like I hit you."

"Hm." Ivan sat at the table as well and started cutting the cheese Yaden had broad back to the table. "So what's up?"

"Crashed alien space ship on Coshima," Yaden answered and then grinned when he suddenly had the full attention of everyone around the table. "Ciel has passed on a mental imagine of the thing from the local lumberjack team who found it. Looks nothing like anything I have ever seen. IIS and the Tower agree. Must be from a race we've never encountered before. No one knows how it got there, but it looks like it crashed two or three days ago. No pilot inside, but bloody tracks leading into the woods so the pilot is likely hurt. Our job is to take a look at the ship and then follow the tracks and find the alien to try and make peaceful contact."

"Where the hell is Coshima?" Ivan asked. "Never heard of it."

Of course it was Myriam who supplied the information. "It's at the very edge of Imperial space. Was only discovered after the second succession war. We aren't even sure if it was ever visited by humans before the fall. The planet is habitable, but barely so. The green belt is narrow and filled with giant trees and murderous predators. However the wood is very high quality so a few brave souls have decided to settle anyway and chop down trees for a small fortune."

Teagan purred appreciatively. Even if Yaden hadn't asked, this was a mission he would have volunteered for. Tracking through dangerous woods, defending his family from monsters? That sounded perfect to him.

"The plan is to leave you with the ship," Yaden told Myriam, "so you can try to figure out as much about it as possible. We're leaving you a portable force field generator, so you should be able to work undisturbed. And if something gets through..."

"...it will get fried to a crisp," Myriam completed his sentence with a grin.

"When are we going?" Ivan asked, popping a chunk of cheese into his mouth.

Yaden followed suit. "Soon as we 'ave eaten," he replied with a full mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

Yaden studied the alien space ship with equal parts fascination and consternation. He had seen plenty of space ships in his life and recently he had made a point of carefully scanning their structural make up to see if he could pick up some more possible improvements for Pebble. But apart from Pebble herself, none of them was built remotely like this one.

It felt like it had been built by a village smith rather than an engineer. Metal plates were thick and heavy instead of as light and durable as possible. The engines were gigantic, giving the small vehicle amazing thrust but probably very little manoeuvrability. The controls looked mostly mechanical, although they didn't consist of levers or buttons but of indentions, holes and grooves. All in all, it looked like the most primitive space craft he had ever seen.

The landing couldn't have been pleasant. A long, wide break had been cut into the trees by its descent and its nose had burrowed into the ground. If it hadn't been as unforgivingly sturdy as it was, it would probably have been torn to pieces. But apart from a few scattered bits of metal, it was mostly whole.

Judging from its size, Yaden thought that it had to be some sort of one person fighter. It really only was a cockpit embedded between the engines, stubby wings and what must have been weapon mounts before they got rubbed down to nubs by the crash landing.

"Whatever it is, it has wine-red fur," Teagan announced. He was standing on one wing of the space ship in his feline form and had been curiously sniffing around the cockpit.

Yaden was grateful that his demon husband had agreed to come along. He didn't really worry about the predators stalking the forest around them or the danger the unknown alien might pose, but Teagan would be invaluable in tracking the alien.

As if he had heard Yaden's thoughts, Teagan added, "It bled quite a bit. Really funny scent. I don't think it will be hard to track."

Myriam had unpacked the portable force field generator and finished setting it up. Now she climbed onto the other wing of the ship and impatiently made shooing gestures at Teagan's huge head which was blocking her access to the control console.

"If you don't mind. Others would like to have a look, too," she admonished.

Teagan huffed indignantly, but made way for her and hopped back down to the ground. He was wearing his combat feline form with extra huge claws, teeth, poisonous quills for a mane and spiked spine and tail, so Yaden refrained from touching him. His shoulders nearly came up to Yaden's chest and he was a massive bulwark of muscle and thick fur. A true monster. 'My monster', Yaden thought with a small smile.

He watched as Myriam opened her tool bag and started laying out various technical gear. Yaden only has a very vague idea what all of those things did, but he didn't worry about it. That's what he had a team for, after all.

"What will we do when we find the alien?" Ivan asked, "How will we communicate with it?" He had kept watch of the forest around them.

Apart from some ominous rustling, the famed predators of this planet had yet to make an appearance, but they'd only been here for about half an hour, so there was still plenty of time for that.

"The Tower had some sort of specialized telepath standing by for that. Apparently, she can read languages from people's minds and transplant them to others," Yaden answered.

"Really? That is kind of cool," Ivan said, but then he frowned. "Then why did I have to learn Youh'Kai the hard way?"

Myriam snickered from her perch on the rim of the cockpit. "Because you are just a lowly squire and it wasn't an emergency situation. I'm guessing that lady has a lot to do."

"Hm, how much work can she really have?" Ivan muttered. "Not like we have that many languages floating around the Empire to start with."

Teagan impatiently scratched the ground, leaving deep furrows with his claws. He very obviously was eager to get this hunt underway. "Are we waiting for something?" he growled. He'd circled the ship twice and was now standing at the point where there was narrow break in the underbrush. There was a wider break which looked like it had been cut. That was probably where the lumberjacks who had found the crash site had come in. Both breaks were near each other.

"Will you be fine here, dear?" Yaden asked Myriam, just to be sure.

"Course, dad, get going," his daughter replied confidently, "I'll contact you if I find anything relevant."

Yaden cautiously eyed the forest. The thick vegetation made his psionic senses useless since he relied on rock for those. It would also make it harder to pull stony ammunition from the ground. The underbrush looked rather dry as well.

"Ivan, you better be careful with flinging fire around," he told his friend, "we don't want a merry forest fire." Then he turned to Teagan with a grin. "Looks like we'll be relying on you to protect us and lead the way, kitty."

Teagan didn't bother even acknowledging that nickname and instead shouldered his way into the break, widening it with the pure mass of his body. He looked mighty sure where he was going, so Yaden didn't question him and followed with Ivan bringing up the rear.

Occasional rustling of leaves, creaking of branches and other strange sounds from the dense forest accompanied their way. It was rather unsettling not to be able to pinpoint any of them. Yaden repeatedly found himself flinching at unexpected sounds.

About twenty minutes after they had started, Teagan suddenly stopped and glanced over his shoulder with a strange expression of care on his monstrous face. Then he raised his head and roared. It was way more than sound, it was a mighty demon lord telling the world where he was and that he would vanquish all challengers, should they dare face him. It was also brutally loud and when it stopped, Yaden realized that he had protectively covered his ears and felt a little weak in the knees.

"There, that should do the trick," Teagan said with a satisfied nod into the utter silence.

For once, even Ivan didn't have any snarky comment ready.

They continued on, through a forest now eerily quiet. Yaden wasn't sure he liked it better, but he certainly wouldn't complain when his husband so sweetly scared everything into oblivion on his behalf.

Instead he cast out his senses, to get a better idea what where they might be heading. The only points of interest he found was a large rock formation jutting out from the forest several hours ahead of them and the human settlement the lumberjacks had come from and returned to, to send out the information about the alien ship. They really were lucky that one of them was married to a moderately skilled telepath who had been willing to accompany his wife to this far out planet. Otherwise they would never have been able to call for help.

The path of the alien was meandering, but slowly veering towards the settlement, as far as Yaden could tell. They still were about two hours away from it. They hadn't been contacted by the settlers again and Yaden started worrying if they were all right.

"Any idea what sort of alien we are looking for?" Ivan asked from the back.

"About your height," Teagan answered, "but more broad in build. Big feet. There were scratch marks on a tree a while back so I think it has claws. Haven't seen any more of the fur so that might have been hair after all. It's hurt, but not bleeding, angry and scared."

"You can tell all that just by following it through the woods?" Yaden was genuinely impressed by his demon husband's skills.

Teagan chuckled throatily. "Yeah. I can also tell you its soul does not smell of evil, as in its soul is not tainted by malicious deeds. Its nature is a bit violent, though."

"That is a bit creepy," Ivan muttered, "don't tell me what my soul smells like, please."

Teagan didn't say anything, but he purred audibly.

"Yeah, right... thanks," Ivan grumbled, but then chuckled, too.

Not evil didn't mean that the alien wouldn't lash out against the settlers, though. Yaden activated his com: "Myriam? Can you contact the settlement and see if they have seen any signs of the alien?"

"Wow, what a brilliant idea," Ivan commented from the back, "why didn't we think about that before we set out on this hike?"

Yaden ignored him. He listened to Myriam use the rather archaic radio device the settlers could be reached by. He couldn't make out their answer over the static, but at least there was one.

A moment later Myriam told him, "They say the most exciting thing to happen since the crash is a few chickens going missing. They think it's just the usual thieving predators of the forest. I didn't tell them it could be a hungry alien. I did tell them that you might be showing up."

"Thanks, dear."

"A chicken stealing alien?" Teagan growled agreeably, "I think we'll get along splendidly."

Judging from the rest of Teagan's description, Yaden was inclined to agree. "We'll keep following the tracks," he decided, "we'll find out soon enough if they really lead to the settlement."

About an hour later, it became clear that the alien was really heading for the settlement. Yaden considered calling in a teleport, but then decided against it. It was only another hour on foot and they might miss some sort of hint if they skipped the rest of the tracks.

That turned out to be a good idea. They came across a spot where Teagan thought the alien must have rested. He found another tuft of the wine red fur or hair, but more importantly, they all saw evidence of a fight. There was blood on the ground and splattered on a tree and scorch marks from what might be a blaster shot on another tree. Whatever predator had attacked the alien seemed to have gotten away with its life, since there was no cadaver. Knowing that the alien was armed was rather interesting since it had not attacked any of the settlers.

They reached the settlement just before nightfall. The setting sun was painting the large clearing in a rosy light. The settlers had arrived in a sturdy colonization ship which they had used for a controlled crash that cleared a large area of trees so they could built their village. Sturdy houses had been erected around the now grounded hull of the ship which served as centre of the village and held their secure stores, a small med bay and their com array. The largest buildings were the sawmill and huge sheds that really where just roofs on stilts where the cut wood was stored. There was a broad strip of empty land between the settlement and the edge of the forest so nothing could creep up on the settlers. It also provided room for growth and of course for a landing shuttle from traders visiting the system. After all, they needed to sell off all that precious wood to make the whole operation worthwhile.

Lights were already coming on in the windows and while the village looked simple and rustic, it also showed signs that the settlers were making it their home with flower pots and carved benches sitting on porches. A gaggle of children was busy herding chicken somewhere.

Teagan shifted to his human form when they stepped from the forest. He still looked rather exotic with his mane of white hair and large body, but he hopefully wouldn't send the settlers running away screaming like his feline form would have.

"Can you still track the alien like this?" Ivan asked curiously.

"Sure," Teagan grinned, "I can smell souls in any form."

Yaden chuckled as Ivan grimaced. "You are one creepy bastard, you know?" Ivan complained as they crossed the open space towards the village.

"That is technically not true," Teagan explained amiably, "I have never been born so I don't have a mother - hence, I can't be a bastard."

"Any idea where our quarry might be hiding?" Yaden interrupted their friendly bickering.

"Not yet, but I will know when we get near it," Teagan replied, switching to professional hunter and then back to teasing comrade as he told Ivan, "and don't ask where the little demons come from. I never cared."

It was good to see how well they were getting along. Any worries how his family might react to him bringing home a demon had died pretty quickly. Or rather, they had been killed by Teagan himself. He might have been a demon warlord, revelling in death, destruction and despair, as he had put it himself. But since he had moved to the island, he had gone out of his way to charm every single member of Yaden's little family. He was a teacher and trainer to Vian, a warm sleeping place to Siva, a hunter and provider of food to Colin, a patient subject to Myriam's questions and Jenny's experiments and a snarky friend to Ivan. Teagan was as charming as a demon, if he wanted to be. And clearly he very much wanted to be, now that he considered himself to be Yaden's demon.

One of the children had noticed them and Yaden was glad to see that they didn't run towards them curiously, but instead immediately fetched an adult to deal with the strangers.

By the time they reached the first house, two large men and one equally large woman were waiting for them, casually holding old fashioned shotguns in their arms with the children nowhere in sight anymore.

Yaden greeted them with the usual catch phrase. "I'm Sir Yaden of the Phoenix Knights. The Emperor sends me to Coshima to investigate the alien ship you reported."

One of the men frowned at them and gripped his gun more tightly. "You don't look anything like Sir Yaden," he growled.

He was immediately scolded by the woman, "Of course not, Ethan, that's the real Sir Yaden, not the actor who plays him. You're such a daft log sometimes." She smiled at Yaden with what could only be called awe. "Your squire told us you might be heading this way, milord. It's a great honour to have you in our small village."

Yaden returned the smile, but in a more serious manner. "I wish the reason for our visit was a more joyous one," he said. "We have tracked the alien which crashed with that ship here. We think it must be hiding somewhere here in the settlement."

Now the settlers exchanged worried glances. "We have not seen anything, milord." The woman explained. She seemed to be in charge.

"It is hurt," Yaden said, "With your permission, we will look for it."

At the mere suggestion that she might not give such a permission, the woman blushed furiously. "Of course, milord." She blurted out and gestured invitingly.

Yaden nodded to Teagan and Ivan, who started walking down the central lane between the houses with Teagan raising his head high and scanning for their quarry in his own unique way.

"Do you want us to come along?" the woman asked, meaningfully raising her shotgun.

"We hope to convince it that we are not its enemies," Yaden explained, "I believe your guns might not help with that."

The woman hurried to nod. "Well... are you staying for dinner...?" she then asked, obviously not at all sure how to deal with such exalted guests.

Then he turned back to the woman. "I'm not sure yet. It very much depends on what we find and how we can deal with it. But I thank you for the kind offer."

He looked around the village, wondering what the alien hoped to find. Medication, maybe, since it was hurt. Food. Or maybe it had hoped to use the colonization ship as an escape vessel from the planet. That definitely wouldn't work out since it would never fly again unless Yaden lifted it himself.

He was about to ask the woman her name when he saw Ivan wave to him. He and Teagan had reached one of the large sheds where the cut wood was stored. "You should go inside now, until we have resolved things with our alien friend." Yaden told the woman and her two companions. He waited until he was sure they were safely in their houses and had another quick look around to make sure no one else was outside and might get caught in the crossfire. Then he joined Ivan and Teagan.


	3. Chapter 3

The stacks of wood under the shed's roof provided great cover for anyone hiding there. Now that the sun had set almost completely, the shed was a murky maze of possible hiding places.

Ivan had no idea how Teagan was able to spot anything in there. His inhuman senses still were largely a mystery to Ivan. Trying to imagine what it was like to smell a soul or just to be able to follow the entirely mundane scent of another person was a little too alien for his mind. Which was a little strange, considering he had no trouble at all imagine all sorts of things to do with fire and making it reality with nothing but his will.

When Yaden had first introduced Teagan to him he had been more than doubtful about his best friend's new lover. He'd been reasonably sure that Teagan had not managed to somehow bewitch Yaden. Some other demon or Myriam would surely have noticed that and Teagan wasn't exactly the bewitching type of demon. More the rend and kill type. But Yaden had a rather mixed track record when it came to love and Ivan didn't want to see him hurt and heartbroken ever again.

So he had decided to at least wait until Colin had checked Teagan out. When he cautiously welcomed the demon lord, Ivan had adopted a watch and wait attitude. Should Teagan pose a threat he could still remove him - permanently.

At least that had been the plan. But somehow the demon had managed to worm into his heart anyway. He was ill-mannered in all the right ways, laughed about Ivan's dirty jokes when Colin frowned disapprovingly and he was an awesome sparring partner. He also made it abundantly clear that he would literally move heaven and earth to protect Yaden from any threat, freeing Ivan from constantly guarding Yaden's back in a fight to switch to all-out attack mode.

After some training together, the three of them now made a fearsome team indeed.

If Teagan was plotting something sinister after all, he was playing such a long game that Ivan really didn't bother trying to comprehend it.

"Can you give us some light without setting everything on fire?" Yaden asked Ivan.

Ivan snorted and called up several small, bright balls of fire, hovering around him. It felt as natural as breathing. The tiny specks of flame were just an extension of himself, they would not burn anything unless he willed them to.

"It's hurt and I think it knows we are here," Teagan growled softly.

He was still in his human form, but with the light from his flames Ivan could see that there were sharp claws at his finger tips and his hair had shifted back to the poisonous quills he liked in all his combat forms. As far as Ivan could tell he had endless variants of these changes, but there were a few he preferred. Like clothes that fit especially well, maybe.

"Let me call in that telepath, so we can try to talk to it," Yaden said calmly. "We don't want to fight it if we don't absolutely have to," he reminded Teagan, who looked as disappointed as was to be expected.

They didn't have to wait long. Just as Yaden had said, the telepath must have been on standby as she was ported in only a minute later. She was dressed in a light grey pant suit that looked like she had bought it from one of the posh boutiques in uptown Imperial City. Her hair was carefully coiffed in a bob-cut that was a little too youthful for a woman in her early forties. She looked just like Ivan would have expected a Psions Guild language expert to look like, really. She also looked very out of place in these surroundings.

"Miss Templeton, thank you for helping us out here," Yaden greeted her with the trademark courtesy he provided anyone who had actively annoyed him.

She back at him with what Ivan considered a suitable amount of awe at meeting such a famous Phoenix Knight. "It's an honour to work with you, Sir Yaden," she replied.

"Our alien guest is hiding somewhere in there," Yaden explained, pointing at the shed.

The telepath nodded. "Yes, I can sense her. This will take a moment."

Then she turned to the shed in front of them and concentrated, setting two fingers against her temple in a gesture many cerebral psions used. Ivan vividly remembered how the trainers of his youth had relentlessly kept correcting the position and pressure in a fruitless attempt to make his psi work somehow. The memory made him smirk as he gently wiggled his fingers to set the fireballs spinning in a slow circle around his head.

Teagan effortlessly managed to project how very bored he was with waiting and how very annoyed he was with the lack of fighting. Ivan considered several snarky remarks to cheer him up, but then decided to remain silent, not to disturb Miss Templeton. After all he couldn't be sure if picking up languages in a matter of minutes was as easy as throwing around fireballs. He did agree with Teagan that the whole hunt was a bit disappointing in the excitement department. Then again - you never got what you expected on a Phoenix Knight mission. Apparently that included boring standing around and waiting when you had hoped for an exciting hunt and battle against a new alien race.

Yaden, of course, looked entirely unfazed and as patient as a mountain range.

"Ah, quite the interesting language, they have. Quite different from anything I have ever encountered before," Miss Templeton finally commented after what felt like forever both to Ivan and Teagan. "I will project the knowledge I have gained to you and the basics of our speech to her. That way you will be able to communicate. Giving you or her the actual skill to speak the other’s language would be a much lengthier process."

"Sounds good," Yaden agreed.

Once more the telepath concentrated and then nodded to Yaden that she was ready.

Ivan would have had no idea what to say, but Yaden just stepped forward and spoke confidently. "Hello? We mean you no harm. We found your crashed ship in the forest and wish to offer our help."

"She is confused," Miss Templeton said and then blinked in obvious surprise, "She has encountered humans before, she actually fled from a battle against humans, but... I have never seen ships like that... her races seems to be besieged by another human empire or something..."

Considering they had met humans even in another galaxy, Ivan was far less surprised than the telepath and Yaden as usual was calmness personified.

"We think you have come to our empire by accident," he addressed the hidden alien again, "we have never encountered anyone like you."

"Then how come you speak my tongue?" a voice now answered from the murky darkness. It was warm and rolling almost like a purr. It reminded Ivan a bit of how Sarisha of Diatomee spoke, only with less of a growl.

"We are using a device that translates our speech," Yaden explained with an apologetic shrug to Miss Templeton. She smiled back understandingly. "Will you please come out? I swear on my honour that we will not harm you."

"She is wondering why we don't just kill her," Miss Templeton continued reporting what the alien was thinking. "Ah, she..."

She was interrupted as the alien spoke again. "I don't know what kind of game this is, but know that I will not be taken alive," her voice grumbled, but then they all heard scratching sounds and a moment later the alien stepped out into the light of Ivan's flames.

The comparison with Sarisha hadn't been all that wrong, Ivan thought. Like the leader of the Quicksilvers this alien reminded Ivan a little of an upright walking cat. Only this one was not lean and tall, but broad and about the same height as Ivan himself. Her ears were set lower on her head than a cat’s, and from her brow curled horns swept backwards. A long, elegant tail nervously swished back and forth behind her. Like Teagan had guessed she had wine-red fur with thin white stripes. She wore a leather armour that had definitely seen a share of combat in the last few days. There were plenty of bloody rents in it and her left arm looked quite severely burned. Probably from the crash. She carried a really archaic looking kind of blaster rifle slung over her shoulder.

She eyed all of them with a mix of suspicion and confusion.

"Right," she said before anyone could say anything, "you are just as furless, tailless and ugly as them. So how do I know you are any different?"

"I guess you will have to tell us apart by our actions, then," Yaden answered with a smile.

Considering all the types of terrible, smelly, disgusting aliens Ivan had already seen in his travels with Yaden, this one looked really cute in a feral sort of way, when she blinked at Yaden owlishly. She also looked ready to keel over from exhaustion.

"May I ask how you got to crash here?" Yaden asked, "I mean, how you got to this system. We weren't aware that there was another jumproute leading out to wherever you have come from."

"So you can attack my people, too?" she growled angrily, "Not a chance!"

Her aggression made Teagan tense up in preparation to defend Yaden from her, Ivan noticed approvingly. If he had been in his feline form he'd probably have been growling at her too, by now. He kept himself in check, though, which was reassuring. Since he hadn't been on any missions with them so far, Ivan hadn't known whether he could be trusted to control his more violent urges in a situation like this.

"I understand your caution," Yaden continued unfazed, "I see you are injured and you must be hungry. May we offer medical aid and food then?"

Now her nose twitched along with her tail as the attack she seemed to expect still failed to materialize. "You are very strange, human," she muttered, "You seem to be offering hospitality...?"

"As far as I can tell that is a sacred tradition of her race," Miss Templeton chimed in, "If you offer food and shelter you are bound by honour to defend your guest from danger as well."

The alien startled at her words, but then nodded. "Yes," she agreed and then rubbed her face in a gesture of deep fatigue. "I should not trust you," she then admitted unhappily, "but it appears I have no choice other than a pointless death in attacking you when you offer peace." She breathed deeply and then nodded, coming to a decision. "I accept your offer of hospitality and give myself into your hands."

And then her eyes rolled up and she collapsed in a furry heap at their feet.

Yaden was by her side immediately to check whether she was just unconscious or dying.

"That might actually be for the best," Miss Templeton commented calmly, "her unconscious mind will offer less resistance when I study her language further and it will give me a chance to properly implant ours into her memory."

She was really professional, but her clinical manner wasn’t exactly likeable, Ivan decided. She might be an awesome telepath but she probably didn't have an inch of empathy.

"I'll have her ported to the island," Yaden decided, "Jenny is best equipped to deal with a sentient, unknown alien species. You are welcome to join us there," he told the telepath as he got back to his feet.

Teagan huffed in obvious disappointment.

"Sorry, love," Yaden said with a rueful sigh, "that was far less dangerous and exciting than I expected it to be." He looked around and then out towards the dark edge of the forest. "You can stay a while and hunt, if you want? Maybe bring back some sort of impressive pelt we can put in the nest or something?"

It was amusing to watch the demon look back and forth between the unconscious alien, considering his duty to protect his husband from all harm and the beckoning prey hiding somewhere in the forest. Ivan quickly rescued him from that dilemma.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on the family while you go hunt," he told Teagan.

That decided the matter and Ivan smirked at Miss Templeton's shocked squeak when Teagan shifted to his feline form and bounded off into the darkness.

Moments later he felt the familiar touch of Ciel's mind and then they were back home.


	4. Chapter 4

Myriam groaned with pleasure and turned her shoulder so it was right under the shower's stream of hot water. It was simply embarrassing how badly she had fumbled her dodge roll in the training session which lay just behind her. That was the main reason why she hadn't told anyone that she had hurt herself. That and the fact that it really wasn't so bad. She might be sore for a day or two but that was a lower price to pay than Jenny learning that she had been injured during training.

She could well do without the scolding that she and her father would receive if Jenny found out. They'd heard plenty about how reckless and stupid their gruelling training exercises were as it was.

With a grimace at the memory of that one time Teagan had thrown Ivan against a moving rock and neatly broken several bones, Myriam turned a little further to let the water beat down on her other shoulder, too. No, she would definitely manage without involving the fretting mother hen with the sharp tongue.

The real problem was why she had fumbled that dodge, Myriam thought with a huff of annoyance she knew she had picked up from Teagan at some point. Because she'd not had her head in the game. She had been distracted by a sudden idea of how she might be able to solve the problem with the uncontrolled energy fluctuation in the transference ritual she was working on. It was really just a thought experiment. It wasn't like she actually needed to transfer vast amount of energy from on dimension to another. But it had still bugged her to no end and when that random particle of inspiration hit her she had been momentarily awed by her own brilliance.

That moment of awe obviously hadn't lasted very long.

It wouldn't have worried her if it had been a singular occurrence, but there were so many details from her scientific and magic research constantly floating around her brain. She just loved numbers and everything she could accomplish with them when she got them in the right order. It made her feel the same adrenaline rush Ivan must be feeling when he executed some especially flamboyant psychokinetic manoeuvre. A feeling she was severely lacking when she worked with her psionic talents.

It felt so ungrateful, to be as talented as she was and still be not really all that interested in psi. Her latest tests had come back with placing her potential at prime level pyrokinetic and high level weather control. Only she had never really tried more than looking at weather patterns to determine whether there would be rain when she planned to go out since that day when Yaden had found her. And while she was diligently training her control of fire she really had no urge to get stronger, faster and more skilled like Ivan did.

She'd trade her combat and psionic training any day for the chance to devour one more of the obscure arcane tomes she had borrowed from Prince Kaoru of Kardan or work on her mathematical theories.

With a deep sigh the grabbed her shampoo and started working it into her hair, wincing occasionally when she twisted her shoulder the wrong way.

Of course her studies were really useful to her father on his missions. She had been instrumental in solving all sorts of problems even before she had become his squire. And on her first official mission as a squire she had used her skills to find out more about the crashed alien ship and had even managed to decode the primitive jump computer to figure out where the ship had come from. Which was quite lucky since it had turned out Daoli couldn't remember what code she had punched in when she had accidentally dialled up the jumproute that had taken her to the Coshima system.

But that really wasn't nearly as flashy as Ivan's flame sabres and fire aura or her father hurling whole moons through space. How could she ever hope to become a Phoenix Knight herself when she preferred maths and magic to training her psionic skills? Her splash page in the QuestLog introducing her as a new Phoenix squire listed those as her hobbies. And the PR team had shown no interest whatsoever in her complaints that they were an important part of her work with her father. Instead they had photo-shopped an impressive fireball hovering next to her head to show that she was a cerebral psion.

With another sigh she rinsed the last of the shampoo out of her hair and turned off the water. She needed to talk to someone about this, she realized. This was not a problem she could solve by sitting on it long enough. Luckily she was blessed with a father who she was sure would patiently listen to all her doubts and fears.

Drying off and throwing on some fresh clothes didn't take long and then she left her little cottage to search for Yaden.

At the table under the olive tree she found Sir Relais and Daoli. The alien had been living with them on the island for the last two weeks. Just as Yaden had predicted, Jenny had been able to figure out how best to heal her wounds.

Even though she looked a little like Sarisha's race, their only real resemblance was that both species had evolved from predators. While Sarisha's people were a violent, temperamental lot, Daoli's race preferred peace and were interested in arts and spiritual balance. They had not really pushed scientific research until their neighbouring planet broke apart and the debris started to block all sunlight to their homeworld. The resulting permanent ice age forced them into space, hoping to find other habitable planets.

Miss Templeton had stayed with them long enough to firmly implant knowledge of Imperial into Daoli's mind and to Yaden and his family a basic grasp of the alien's language. Lacking a better term they had started calling her race Felids.

When she first woke up, Daoli had still been wary of them, but she had relaxed rather quickly when no threat materialized and she was treated with nothing but kindness and polite interest, both by Yaden's family and by Sir Relais who had come to the island to meet her as the official imperial diplomat assigned to her case. Of course it was pretty much impossible to resist Sir Relais’ charms.

Myriam had been quite amused when she watched Jenny being swept of her feet by the dashing Phoenix Knight. It had been even funnier when both Yaden and Colin generously offered to broker a date for her and she blushingly stated that - thank you very much - three husbands were plenty and she really didn't want to look that greedy.

Sir Relais had accompanied Daoli to the Imperial Palace to meet with the Emperor himself and had also shown her around Imperial City. She'd come back deeply awed from the excursion and quite impressed by the fact that the Emperor was interested in an alliance with her race, rather than wanting to attack and murder them like the humans they were at war with did.

They had since learned that these other humans belonged to what they called the Scilla Republic. The Felid had almost no intel on them, apart from the fact that they were more technically advanced than the Felid and not interested in any form of peaceful coexistence. Their aim seemed to be to wipe out the Felid race to claim the few planets they had colonized for themselves. The Felid were fighting a losing battle and at first Myriam had been confused why Emperor Elisander would want to ally with a race which clearly needed assistance and had nothing to offer in return.

Relais had explained to her that offering their protection was a much easier and less expensive way to eventually bring the Felid into the fold of the Empire than trying to force them. The Emperor was playing the long game and he did so masterfully.

Daoli certainly was delighted at the prospect of gaining the Empire's aid. Relais would accompany her back to her own people as ambassador to Phoenix Empire and meet with the leaders of her people. Not that Daoli was in any hurry to leave. Once she had decided that her human hosts could be trusted she had switched from caution to insatiable curiosity and there were still a few spots she insisted she simply had to see on P2 before she could possibly think about going home. All in order to better be able to judge the Phoenix Empire humans' sincerity, of course.

When she was ready to leave, they would make the jump from the Coshima system out to the one she had come from. That system had been newly colonized by the Felid, but had been attacked by the Scilla Republic recently. Daoli and many other Felid fighter pilots had fought for control of the jumpgate. They had managed to beat back the first wave of attackers, but after that many had broken through, continuing on to the actual planet. Daoli's fighter squad had been left to guard the gate while the rest of the Felid fleet went in pursuit after the invaders. Then more Scilla ships had shown up and Daoli's squad had been wiped out. Being the only one left, she had tried to jump out to another Felid system to get reinforcements. Only hurt and in a hurry she had fumbled the jumpcode and instead ended up at Coshima.

Since they were likely to enter hostile territory, the Emperor was sending one of his Phoenix Knights as his ambassador and a ship with cloaking technology so they would be able to sneak through.

Myriam had been a little miffed that they wouldn't be allowed to take Daoli home on Pebble; after all Pebble had a state-of-the-art cloaking shield. But after meeting Sir Relais in person she had been forced to admit that he was much better suited for a diplomatic mission than her father. Yaden was nice, but Sir Relais was dazzlingly charming. He could sell sand to a desert nomad and still make the poor dude believe he had made a great bargain. It was impossible not to like the man. Even she liked him.

He and Daoli were in animated conversation so Myriam slipped by without disturbing them. From the kitchen she could hear Colin's voice arguing with someone over the fact that no, they could not have those fried chicken, they were going to be a part of dinner. Probably Teagan, Myriam thought with a little smile.

While she had headed to her cottage for a shower after the training session, her father, Ivan and Teagan had gone down to the beach for a swim. By now Yaden would probably be in his favourite resting spot in his hammock behind the cottages. She circles around the cottages and then followed the short path between the palm trees to where the hammock was strung up between two of them. Just like she had expected, her father was lying in it. Only he wasn't reading comic books like she had hoped he would be. Instead one comic book sat face down on his chest and he looked to be deeply asleep.

Chewing on her lower lip, Myriam stopped to reconsider. It was rarely enough that Yaden got a chance for an idle nap like this and she really didn't want to disturb that. On the other hand she wasn't sure when she would find the courage to approach him with her problem again. She knew herself well enough to realize that given half a chance she would convince herself again that it really wasn't worth his attention.

With a deep sigh Myriam stepped up to the hammock and gently prodded her father. "Dad?"

Yaden's eyes opened after just a moment and he blinked at her in sleepy confusion. "Hm...? Time for dinner already?"

That brought a smile to Myriam's face. Of course food would be the first thing he thought about. "No, not yet," she said, "I was wondering... do you have time... can I talk to you about something...?"

"Sure." He shifted in the hammock to make room for her. "Climb aboard."

Normally she would have rejected such an offer. After all she was a grown girl and didn't need to cuddle like the little ones did, but on this occasion she gladly accepted the immense safety of her father's arm around her.

"This isn't still about that dodge you fumbled?" Yaden asked with that uncanny insight he sometimes displayed.

"No... yes... sort of in parts, but not really..." Myriam replied not very eloquently. Certainly not like a dignified scientist would explain something, she chided herself. She took a moment to collect her thoughts and then realized that she still had no clue where to start. "It's about the training, and being a psion." She finally grumbled unhappily.

She waited for some comment from her father, but he just listened patiently, giving her all the time and attention she needed. "I... I don't really know how to explain it," she continued voicing her rambling thoughts, "I know what a great gift my psionic talents are, really, I appreciate them... only... I don't really, I'd give them back in a heartbeat if it meant I could fully concentrate on my studies. You know why I went down like a sack of potatoes? Because I was distracted. Because I was thinking about maths instead of paying attention," she finished miserably and snuggled tighter into her father's arm.

Yaden waited for a moment longer to make sure she was done, before he spoke. "Okay... so you are trying to tell me that you would rather stop training with me and Ivan and fully commit to your scientific studies?" he asked gently.

"No!" Myriam twisted in the hammock so she could look up at him. "No, I want to be a Phoenix Knight someday. I want to go out there and help people, protect people, do good. I know I have to train to become a hero like you!"

Her father's gentle chuckle wasn't quite the reaction she had expected. "Love, the Emperor already has two killer psychic Phoenix Knights. And while I am sure he isn't adverse to grabbing more, I do also think he could use a brilliant scientist who is willing to leave her lab and go out there and do stuff. That you are a talented psion and the smartest girl I know doesn't mean that you have to pick either. You can be both. But if that is not what you want you are entitled to picking the one you want. If it's science that makes you happy, do that."

"But... you are a psion... and I am too... and it feels so ungrateful to waste all that talent..." she complained.

Now her father shook his head slowly. "Myriam, you are sixteen. If you decide to fully concentrate on one thing it doesn't mean that the other thing won't still be there for you to pick up in ten years. Or twenty. Or fifty. Who knows, with the medical care available to you, you might make it to two hundred years. That is plenty of time to master all your amazing talents."

It was a thought that hadn't crossed her mind. Which was quite embarrassing considering she was supposed to be the smart one. That only left one thing weighing her down. Even though she could already guess her father's answer, she had to hear it from him anyway.

"I just want you to be proud of me," she muttered, feeling a little silly for saying it.

Like she had expected her father chuckled once more. "Love, I am proud of you. You are amazing. I am in awe of what a remarkable young woman you are turning out to be. You're not just smart and talented, you are also caring and considerate and that is some truly stunning stuff in a teenager." He nudged her brow with his nose. "Do you want me to go on?"

Myriam couldn't help the blush creeping up her cheeks. He always had to be the overachiever. "Nah," she grumbled, now finally able to relax against him, "I'm good."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the last story I will be posting for the foreseeable furture. For more information please check over here:
> 
> http://rynthjan.livejournal.com/154602.html


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